Telus, Bell to get the iPhone in Canada

Many Canadians are cheering as Telus and Bell announced plans Tuesday to begin selling Apple's popular iPhone, ending Rogers reign as the exclusive iPhone carrier in Canada.

After completing a $1 billion upgrade so its network could support high-speed packet access (HSPA) used by the iPhone, Bell and Telus will both begin offering the iPhone in November, the companies said in separate statements.

Neither company provided any further details on pricing or an exact launch date for the device in Canada. Both companies will offer the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS, according to the statements.

As the Financial Post points out, until the network upgrade was completed, Bell and Telus both ran on CDMA networks, which is not compatible with the iPhone.

Rogers had a rough start when adding the iPhone 3G to its roster last year. The company drew the ire of users when it refused to offer an unlimited data plan like the ones available in the U.S. from AT&T.

Rogers finally broke down and offered users an (almost) unlimited plan a month later, but by that time it was too late. Users across the country began to organize petitions and Web sites like RuinediPhone.com to protest against the company.

[Gold_Storm_Mac]

Death of the Blackberry in Canada.

[PaulTwo]

I doubt that, the Blackberry can do more than 1 thing at a time....

[Gold_Storm_Mac]

@PaulTwo
actually the iphone can be downloading a song or app and you could be doing something at the same time. you could be on a call and surf the web, take a note, and email something. the iphone has multitasking capabilities. not in 3rd party apps though.

[Gold_Storm_Mac]

this competition is going to great to offer better plans for Canadians. the sales are going to skyrocket. this exactly like the strategy of blackberry who has their phones across all these networks.

[stewy79]

Haha, these companies don't compete now... I doubt the iphone will change anything.

[EarthToApple]

"by stewy79 October 6, 2009 5:36 PM PDT
Haha, these companies don't compete now... I doubt the iphone will change anything."

Thanks Balmer for your intuitive input once again

[gthiruva]

Choice? Wow. Lucky Canadians. I'll celebrate when the iPhone works without hacking on T-Mobile or anything non-AT&T.

[bradward747]

Ha ya no kidding. Though we have to stay on 3 year contracts and per more per month. So its a loss really.

[Gold_Storm_Mac]

Bell apparently has cheap plans unlike Rogers. Rogers has a faster network (maybe until now). Bell though has the largest network. their coverage is excellent, even in rural areas.

[rfelgueiras]

too bad they aren't national... no mobile sales in Manitoba, stuck with Rogers (who's service and pricing sucks) or Telus (who's service sucks more than Rogers)

[norbert6464]

This is great news, making the concept of sharing the iphone in the U.S. at some point not seem out of the question.

[amsardesai]

I hope this will finally lower the costs for owning a cell phone in Canada, as there is absolutely no competition here at all. I also hope the three year contracts go away soon too.

[Gold_Storm_Mac]

i know you!

[databrain]

This is an excellent day for all Canadians. we now have serious competition between the big 3 telcoms since they are all in the same level playing field. Before, Rogers was the only GSM / HSPA provider and both Bell and Telus used the Pathetic CDMA technology that no one outside North America really ever used. Rogers acted as the monopoly for better phones and charged most for voice / data plans and still do to this day.

It should also be noted that both Bell and Telus are direct competitors to each other but share, build and maintain Network resources as well as infrastructure such as the CDMA networks and now the HSPA networks.

I am happy to see CDMA now dead in the water. I think it was a huge mistake for both Telus and Bell to pick this lousy technology that dose not allow you to pick your own phone to use by simply adding your Sim card, switch phones whenever desired by swapping the simcard or the ability to place phone calls anywhere in the world (so long as a GSM network is available)

[CreativeMalcolm]

In Manitoba Rogers has super competitive plans a lot of the time. We had a ten dollar voice plan plus the extra stuff, my iPhone costs me 47.45 a month Canadian. Pretty dang sweet if you ask me. As far as Bell and Telus, Bell doesn't even operate in Manitoba. I welcome competition in the Canadian market, I currently see way too many people with lousy LG phones since that's the best Telus can offer.